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Ashland City Council backs internet expansion program

The Ashland City Council unanimously approved resolution to establish a policy with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development as part of a program designed to expand broadband and internet connectivity to parts of Ashland City.

The Ashland City Council unanimously approved a resolution to establish a policy with the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development as part of a program designed to expand broadband and internet connectivity to lacking communities.

Sandy Cannon, Human Resources manager, explained that the Broadband Ready Communities Program would enable internet providers to apply for a grant, and the Department of Economic and Community Development would offer funding to expand broadband internet accessibility, “and hopefully open up the options for people to be able to get different or better internet.”

She said the program aims to help rural communities access reliable and affordable broadband options.

Per the resolution, the town would appoint Building Codes Officer Brian Stinson to oversee the program, including to review and either approve or deny applications within 30 business days, among the requirements.

Mayor Rick Johnson said there are a “lot of dead areas” around Ashland City.

Jennifer Donnals, a spokeswoman for Haslam’s office, said in a previous story that 34 percent represents approximately 725,000 people in Tennessee.

“More than 800,000 Tennesseans don’t have access to broadband, and one in three businesses identified it as essential to selecting their location,” Haslam said in the release. “Spurring deployment in our rural, unserved areas will open them up to economic investment and growth.”

The Tennessee Broadband Accessibility Act, signed by Haslam last year, allocates $45 million over three years via grants and tax credits, as well as allowing private, nonprofit electric cooperatives to offer broadband services and providing educational resources.

As part of the Tennessee Broadband Initiative, political subdivisions – such as the town of Ashland City – may request to be designated a broadband ready community. Sixteen were designated as broadband ready communities as of Thursday, according to the Department of Economic and Community Development.

"I know this is an issue in our community," Cannon said. "People have asked us to try to do what we can, so we are."

Ashland City isn’t the only municipality in Cheatham County seeking solutions to limited broadband availability.

The Cheatham County Democratic Party is organizing an O.P.E.N. discussion – Organization, Presentation, Evaluation, Navigation – at the Pegram Community Center. The free public forum will take place Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.

State Rep. John Ray Clemmons and Cheatham County Librarian May Lingner are among the panelists expected during the nonpartisan forum.

"These issues that impact the daily lives of ordinary people are especially suited to a search for common understanding and non-partisan solutions," Cheatham County Democrats Chair Michael Lottman said in a press release.

"The broadband Internet expansion issue affects people of all parties and persuasions who live in certain areas, and some measure of support has already been expressed by Governor Haslam, a wide majority of the state legislature, congressional leaders of both parties, and even President Trump when he visited Nashville in early January.”

During President Donald Trump’s Jan. 8 visit to Nashville to speak at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s conference, he signed an executive order to boost broadband connectivity in rural areas.

But Lottman said eve with attention from elected officials, the proposed solutions "(don't) seem to be going anywhere," and it seems there's "a lot of support, but not much action."

“The question remaining, though, is what exactly needs to be done and how and when is it going to happen,” Lottman continued in the release, noting the comparison of broadband internet availability in rural areas to telephone or electrical service at earlier times. It's "worth a concerted effort to extend these advantages to as many people as possible, and to meet and consider the ways in which that goal might be accomplished."

Kelly Fisher, reporter for the Ashland City Times, can be reached at KPFisher@gannett.com, 615-801-3866 or on Twitter at @KellyPFisher.